The Permanent Court of Arbitration is an intergovernmental organization with 116 member states. Established in 1899 to facilitate arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution between states, the PCA has developed into a modern, multi-faceted arbitral institution that is now perfectly situated at the juncture between public and private international law to meet the rapidly evolving dispute resolution needs of the international community. Today the PCA provides services for the resolution of disputes involving various combinations of states, state entities, intergovernmental organizations, and private parties. The PCA’s Secretariat, the International Bureau, headed by its Secretary-General, provides administrative support to tribunals and commissions.

The handling of the ICC arrest warrant against the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir continues to create major problems for the African Union. The planned attendance by Al-Bashir of the 19th AU Summit in Malawi coming July and the threat of the Malawi government to arrest him if he did attend has forced the African Union to move the summit to its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

On Thursday 26 April, Trial Chamber II of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) delivered its verdict in the case against Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia. Taylor was found criminally responsible of aiding and abetting rebel forces in the commission of 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law in neighboring Sierra Leone during its civil war.

On Wednesday 14 March, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) delivered it’s first verdict. In a unanimous decision three judges convicted Thomas Lubanga Dyilo of the war crimes of conscripting, enlisting, and using children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities. With this judgment the ICC firmly establishes the use of children in armed conflict as an international crime and also focuses renewed attention on the many thousands of children still used in various other conflicts in the world.

On Thursday, 24 November the first Shabtai Rosenne Memorial Lecture, delivered by Professor Malcolm N. Shaw Q.C., Senior Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge, took place at the Peace Palace in The Hague, a little more than a year after Professor Rosenne’s death. In his lecture entitled, “The Peaceful Settlement of Disputes: Paradigms, Plurality and Policy”, Professor Shaw gave an overview of where he thought dispute resolution was at the moment.

According to Article 38 of its Statute, the International Court of Justice ‘whose function is to decide in accordance with international law such disputes as are submitted to it,’ has to apply, inter alia, ‘international custom.’ This source of public international law is described, in the same Article, as ‘evidence of a general practice accepted as law.’

Considering the fundamental role of treaties in international relations and recognizing the importance of treaties as a source of international law, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties was adopted in 1969. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties regulates the conclusion and entry into force of treaties, the application and interpretation of treaties as well as the amendment, invalidity and termination of treaties. According to Article 2 of this multilateral agreement, a ‘treaty’ means ‘an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation.

International Financial Law is a framework of rules, standards and practices that govern international financial markets and transactions. The objective of this framework is to create international financial stability. This stability has to be created in an environment of national jurisdictions, each pursuing their own national interest and governance standards, and is constantly threatened by the consequenses of increasing globalization, technological development and financial innovation.

International Family Law describes all family law matters with an international element. People are residing internationally and experiencing international relationships more frequently. The closest link to determine which national family law rules are applicable to specific family matters is the residence (domicilie) of the parties concerned. Family matters include marriage, divorce, maintenance obligations, spouses, inter-country adoption, lineage, inheritance etc.

International dispute settlement is concerned with the techniques and institutions which are used to solve international disputes between States and/or international organizations. International disputes can be solved either by use of force (coercion) or by peaceful settlement. Techniques used for peaceful settlement of international disputes are negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice (Art. 33, UN Charter).

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International Peace and Security

Nowadays many international or regional organizations are involved in peacemaking, peace-enforcing and peacekeeping activities. In fact, they send multinational forces to the various conflict areas. While the expression ‘collective security’ does not occur in the United Nations Charter, it is often used to refer to the system for the maintenance of international peace and security under the UN Charter.